These instructions are for post-op care following Mohs Micrographic Surgery. Sutures are usually removed five to ten days after the initial surgery. Please follow these instructions to ensure the quickest and most optimal healing process.
Post-Suture Removal Wound Care Instructions
- If you were not instructed to use Advanced Healing Bandages, please use a Q-tip to apply Vaseline/Aquaphor OR Mupirocin and Gentamicin mixed 1:1 under a Band-Aid or a non-adhesive pad and tape.
- By the 4th week after surgery, your wound may require some massage. If your scar has become raised or if you were explicitly instructed to perform scar massages, begin to massage the wound gently with your clean fingers for 2 minutes at least 5 times daily. Massage should be firm enough to feel painful but not enough to induce bruising. Be sure to massage scar in all directions.
- Scar formation in the first few weeks of wound-healing tends to be over exuberant. With the massaging you are trying to break down the early scar and allow the wound to settle sooner. By 6 weeks scars have matured significantly and may require additional intervention if you haven’t massaged firmly enough!
- It is difficult to massage too firmly. One possible sign to back off from massage is if you begin to see small pimples in the scar or a few millimeters to the side. This can be a sign of “spitting sutures” (internal sutures that didn’t dissolve) and if you get these, your massage time is complete! If you do happen to see these, call our office as we will need to remove these for you!
- Scars will remain red for months (2-18 months to be precise!). Once your wound no longer requires bandaging, it should be ready for sunscreen. Remember to apply every hour by the hour, or you may be disappointed to find that your scar becomes pigmented. Remember red scar + sun = dark scar.
- If your wound has some mother nature healing, continue daily bandage changes until the entire wound is healed. You’ll want to rub the wound with a soft cloth to remove any yellow exudate over the open area (the yellow exudate is not pus but fibrin which is a part of normal wound healing), and keep the base clean. By 3 weeks, the fibrin will peel off to reveal pink/red tissue, and the wound will then heal in from the sides.